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HomepageThe Lead is a micro-mag - a lean, mean site on politics, culture, and everything in between. Homepage Skip to main content Menu Home Contributors About Subscribe Support our work The Altrincham & Sale Lead archive The Blackpool Lead archive The Bolton Lead archive The Hyndburn Lead archive The Stoke-on-Trent Lead archive The Teesside Lead archive The Warrington Lead archive CampaignsEqualityHousingEnvironmentGeneral ElectionSupport Our WorkFixing BritainMigrationEducationRaceCultureWorkGlobal Content Title The Lead is now on Substack Description Get our newsletter direct to your inbox every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with news and features going beyond the usual headlines. And become a paid subscriber to get access to exclusive members-only content and stories. Title Britain must not hitch to Trump wagon on Ukraine, Gen Z shun cash + Tory councillor exposed over unpaid council tax Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers and editors have been focused on    Title We're back - and we want you with us Description The Lead is now on Substack! Become a Member, and get our most groundbreaking content first. Become a Founder, and join the newsroom's internal conversation - meet the writers, the editors and more.    Title Immigration froth and fallout, Germany's landmark election + 'insidious' council behaviour Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers and editors have been focused on    Title PETITION: SCRAP THE CAP Description As The Lead, we're calling on our readers to sign our petition to Rachel Reeves to scrap the cap in the budget next week.    Title 'Cowboy' RMG in crosshairs of MPs, what Labour should do as Reform surge + US foreign aid cuts Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers and editors have been focused on    Title Toxic assets of shared ownership, Five years since Brexit + a 'half-job' council Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers and editors have been focused on    Title Donald Trump migraines, Southport's community response + a misleading political claim Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers have been focused on    Title Brexit tide turning, far-right grooming gang myths debunked + 'Grey Labour' Description Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers have been focused on    Title The Lead North moves to Substack - and launches first Yorkshire-based edition Description Plus: The Teesside Lead relaunches with Leigh Jones as editor By Ed Walker    Title There is no progressive future for Britain without the farming community on board Description Farmers deserve at least as much consideration from Labour as Generation Rent or workers trapped in the gig economy. We can't afford to lose them to the far right.  By Dimi Reider    Title The North is short of over 70,000 social housing units. Can Rayner fix it? Description The sell-offs, the depleted stock, the greedy developers - and the tenants and councils already fighting back. We dive deep into the North's housing crisis.  By Kevin Gopal    Title Damp, decay and delay: the many fractures of the housing crisis Description After over a decade of bad policy, perpetual underinvestment and a chronic lack of political will, Britain's social housing is on its knees. Are Labour’s proposals ambitious enough to fix it?  By Hannah Fearn    Title Why I'm staying on Twitter Description And why The Lead is staying too.  By Dimi Reider    Title People smugglers aren’t terrorists, and “smashing the gangs” won’t work Description On immigration, Labour seems poised to learn the wrong lessons from Trump’s victory - and make the far right more likely to win in the UK, too. But there's a different path.  By Zoe Gardner    Title Is steelmaking on Teesside in jeopardy? Description The future of steelmaking on Teesside now hinges on a government pledge to back green steel, but questions remain over whether it will come in time.  By Leigh Jones    The Lead North Bringing you in-depth reporting on issues affecting Blackpool, Bolton, Stoke-on-Trent, Teesside, Altrincham & Sale, Lancashire, Warrington and Hyndburn. Revealed: The swanky restaurants and £200k Covid bounce back loan which went missing By Jamie Lopez The Lead North moves to Substack - and launches first Yorkshire-based edition By Ed Walker Is steelmaking on Teesside in jeopardy? By Leigh Jones Title Crooked director who took £200k Covid bounce back cash is banned Description Investigation into Dean Wilson and The Olive Tree Brasserie restaurant chain uncovers Covid loan funds didn't go into business recovery By Jamie Lopez    Title Trump's triumph: Picking up the pieces Description What role did misogyny play in the American election? What does it mean for climate policy? And what's the most immediate foreign policy threat? Our editors weigh in.    Title The Democrats walked into a deathtrap. Will Labour take note? Description There are almost no silver linings in this American election. But there are lessons to be learned - particularly for Keir Starmer.  By Dimi Reider    Title Labour’s big bet Description From public service relief to tax hikes, Labour’s first budget signals a shift—but can it truly mend what’s broken? The Lead UK’s editors give their verdict    Title The verdict on the Labour budget: Where it soars and stumbles Description The Lead UK’s policy panel react to Reeves' tax and spend plans    Title The two-child benefit cap is indefensible. It's got to go. Description There is no excuse to retain Osborne's performative cruelty. Even electorally, keeping it can only alienate any Tories who might yet vote Labour—and it makes no social, moral or economic sense either. By Dimi Reider    Title Labour's new fiscal rules should lead to mega investment in Britain Description The Chancellor's eyeing up changing the financial rules of play for the government. Economist Phil Tomlinson breaks down what it means and how it could boost the country's future.     Title Entrepreneurs’ Relief is a grift—and does nothing for Britain. Scrap it. Description Ignore a minority of self-serving voices. Rachel Reeves should abolish BADR - and use the money gained to remove the shameful two-child benefit cap. By Michael Harris    Title Instead of social housing, councils spend tens of millions on "temporary" hotels Description Residents on waiting lists are being shunted between privately owned B&Bs, hotels and hostels. We filed Freedom of Information requests to two councils to find out the costs. By Eleanor Hancock    Title To win big business, Britain needs government investment - not tax cuts Description Deficit or not, the UK is spending far too little to get our engines going. What major player would look at our Victorian railways and say—this looks like a reliable, efficient economy to invest in? By Zoë Grünewald    Title Introducing Brick by Brick: Rebuilding Britain's housing Description Our new series - by Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald - will push for the government to go far beyond its promise of 1.5 million new homes, and to revolutionise how we see housing in the UK.    Title Labour's first 100 days: Not half as bad as it looks Description Despite several unforced errors, Keir Starmer's start is a vast improvement on his predecessors. "Worst in living memory"? Maybe if you're a toddler. The Lead's editors weigh in.     Title The academy chain where the CEO makes nearly half a million—and teachers recruited from Jamaica get under £30k Description Academies were meant to ensure greater investments in pupils, curricula and teachers. But in many, the most direct beneficiaries have been the senior leaders. By Cherry Casey    Title The Tory leadership fiasco is not necessarily good news for progressives Description True, Tories will now have to choose between nearly unelectable leaders. But elections aren't the only game in town—and there's one front on which Labour, and even Britain, are especially vulnerable. By Dimi Reider    Title Lancashire Constabulary faces payout for treatment of Blackpool officer with PTSD, anxiety and depression Description The woman had her PTSD likened to a broken leg by Superintendent Chris Hardy, one of the force’s most senior officers, documents say. By Michael Holmes    Title Almost everything Labour said about the freebies was a mistake Description Even if each excuse was factually correct, the picture Labour projects does not bode well for the party - or for British democracy. By Dimi Reider    Title From Gaza's skies to Cardigan Bay: The drone testing facility dividing a Welsh village Description Aberporth might only have a couple of thousands residents, but its also home to two defence companies and a private airport that hosts and tests aircrafts potentially implicated in war crimes. By Olly Haynes    Title Britishness can't be untangled from migration. A new exhibition drives the message home. Description The Migration Museum sits in one of London's most diverse neighbourhoods, once the scene of fierce clashes with the Far Right. A new, timely installation opened last week - we went to take a look.  By Diyora Shadijanova    Title From Clacton, to Washington, to Silvertown: the many engines of Britain's new Far Right Description Introducing The Drift, our new column tracking the rise and rise of the extreme right in the UK. By Diyora Shadijanova    Title Lebanon: Nasrallah killing is an era-defining cataclysm. Does it mean regional war? Description In just ten days, Israel wiped out most of the leadership of Hezbollah, including its iconic chairman, at an enormous cost to civilians. But the path to wider conflict now seems murkier; here's why.  By Dimi Reider    Title Blackpool's taxi revolution and revolt Description As drivers petition the government to reverse deregulation of private hire, Uber is given licence to operate in the town despite new safety fears emerging By Ed Walker and Shelagh Parkinson    Title Exclusive: 376 hours A&E waits for crisis-struck mental health patients Description Adults and children in urgent need of mental health treatment face hundreds of hours waits in "environments that will make their symptoms worse," senior NHS source says. By Katie Hignett    Title Inside Blackpool's regeneration story Description From swathes of new housing to Talbot Gateway there's billions being pumped into the town - we look at where and what impact it is having  By Ed Walker    Title Mental health crisis line on Fylde coast takes 195 calls a day Description The initial response service was set up so that people don't need doctor referral to receive help. By Shelagh Parkinson    Title Voices and stories of Blackpool's young homeless to be heard Description Poet and spoke word artist Nathan Parker teams up with Streetlife to bring stories from the streets to life. By Ed Walker    Title Blackpool Tories attack bullish Labour over Winter Fuel Allowance cuts Description Coun Williams said the allowance was “poorly targeted in terms of getting support to those in need”. By Shelagh Parkinson    Title Blackpool Victoria Hospital promises to listen to victims after figures show sex attacks on rise Description Eight cases of staff-on-patient “sexual safety incidents” were noted at the Whinney Heys Road hospital in 2023/24.  By Michael Holmes    Title Metropole asylum seekers need more than 'board and lodgings' Description Blackpool charity share how they've organised trips out for those within the hotel - as one of the town's two MPs calls for the government to stop using the Metropole Hotel.  By Ed Walker    Title Controversial blackface memorabilia to form part of new museum collection Description Bought by Blackpool Council as part of a private collection, the new Showtown museum collection includes a photograph and flyer from the 1920s showing the offensive practice of 'blacking up' By Michael Holmes    Title Blackpool Victoria Hospital pays out £15m as it failed to give antibiotics to mother and baby Description It was one of a number of failings found during a High Court hearing into the care of the child - known as ABJ - and his mother in a case dating back to 2008 By Ed Walker    Title Support our work Description Click here to keep The Lead's journalism independent and ad-free. Give us a one-off donation, sign up for a regular contribution or by acquiring our merch. We will personally place a banana peel in the online path of a disinfo merchant for every shirt you buy.    Title Community laundry and kitchen is providing a lifeline in Claremont Park Description Claremont Park Community Centre has seen £200,000 invested in the building which was converted from being a library in 2004.  By Shelagh Parkinson    Title Why did Blackpool riot? Description Some, but not all, in Blackpool chose to respond to a wicked act in Southport with violence instead of support. But the search for answers as to why isn't straightforward.  By Michael Holmes    Title “Is anywhere in the world safe?”: Asylum seeking women on far-right riots Description The Lead speaks to three asylum seeking and refugee women about their experiences of the violence seen across the country in the past week. By Lauren Crosby Medlicott    Title OPEN LETTER: SHOW SOUTHPORT YOUR SUPPORT Description Can you spare a moment to sign this letter and show your solidarity with the people of Southport?    Title Condemning violence alone won’t stop the far-right – Britain must reject xenophobia once and for all Description Anti-immigrant rhetoric isn’t acceptable in any form. Ceding ground on this issue sets a ticking time bomb.  By Diyora Shadijanova    Title By targeting "multiculturalism", the far right launches an attack on all of us Description For years, the extreme right and its legitimisers picked off minorities one by one. Now they're unveiling a wider war.  By Diyora Shadijanova    Title Exclusive: Laurence Fox seen on flight to Ireland as Starmer vows crackdown on far-right Description The former actor was seen on a Ryanair flight to Cork on Saturday, 3 August.     Title Progressives are in power now. Let's put this to use. Description It is vital we don’t give an inch to xenophobia - that we don’t let these riots, based entirely on lies, push Labour’s already lamentably trepidatious approach to immigration even further rightward. By Dimi Reider    Title Riots show why British Jews must reject fake solidarity from the right Description From rioters to ministers, the far right has long wooed British Jews for its own ends. It’s time to see it for what it really is. By Em Hilton    Title Southport's two days of hell Description "This morning, my neighbours and I are working to put our streets back together. The far-right scum who inflicted this damage and misery are long gone, without a thought for the impact of what they did."  By Jamie Lopez    Title IS ISRAEL'S BLANK CHEQUE ABOUT TO BOUNCE? Description Kamala Harris is changing American rhetoric on the Gaza war - and Keir Starmer is actually taking action.  By Dimi Reider    Title BRISTOL OPENS FIRST REGULAR DRUG CHECKING SERVICE – BUT WE CAN’T STOP THERE Description The UK’s first drug checking service will prove invaluable in protecting people from drug-related harms. By Ella Glover    Title LIKE DODGING BULLETS IN THE DARK: THE GENETIC RISKS KEPT HIDDEN BY ADOPTION RULES Description Hundreds of thousands of adoptees and their family members lack vital health history - as even NHS numbers are changed after adoption.  By Katharine Quarmby    Title A MOM ARRESTED OVER A BIRTHMARK? HOSPITALS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR MEDICAL RACISM Description A Nepalese mother was arrested in an NHS hospital because staff mistook a common birthmark for child abuse. Structural racism in medicine needs to end, and only structural upheaval can end it. By Leah Borromeo    Title WE CAN'T REPLACE DOCTORS WITH PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATES Description A few years back, the narrative was that we didn’t have enough doctors; now, we have doctors out of work. Meanwhile, there is a plan to boost the physician associate workforce from 1,000 to 10,000 in a matter of years.  By Professor Partha Kar    Title JUST STOP OIL SENTENCES SHOW WE NEED FEWER POLICE POWERS - NOT MORE Description Labour's first King's Speech in 14 years is a swell of sensible policy, with two glaring exceptions: the retention of the two-child benefit cap and yet another criminalisation rush. By Dimi Reider    Title Add the 227,000 Covid excess deaths to the austerity death toll Description The killer virus that thrived on health inequalities flourished in Tory-led Britain.  By Zoë Grünewald    Title ON ENGLAND'S DEAD RIVERS, FISHING TOWNS ARE DYING TOO Description The Conservative government leaves behind a shocking legacy of river pollution. Between warming waters, bacteria and sewage discharges, it's not clear if the communities on the waterways have a future.  By Richard Booth    Title NEW HYNDBURN MP SARAH SMITH'S FIRST WEEKS IN PARLIAMENT WITH HER FOUR-MONTH OLD SON Description Newly-election MP on what Westminster is like for working mothers.  By Sarah Smith    Title Petition: Scrap voter ID Description The numbers are in: more than 400,000 were BANNED from taking part in this historic, era-defining election because they lacked voter ID.    Title From Sherlock Holmes to Line of Duty, Britain loves copaganda Description How the nation’s long love affair with police stories continues to shape our relationship with policing today. By Leah Cowan    The Lead is now on Substack. Become a Member, and get our most groundbreaking content first. Become a Founder, and join the newsroom’s internal conversation - meet the writers, the editors and more. 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